Milquetoast Men in a Milquetoast Church
Blessed be the Lord my God, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle wrote David in Psalm 144. What a Godly and righteous sentiment. More than a sentiment, it is a recognition of how God often works in the life of a righteous man. I have not seen these kinds of statements written about the female heroes in Scripture. The men however, are often presented as fighters. This is disconcerting in its political incorrectness. It is also disturbing to many in the church who seem to believe that the main point of the Christian life is to be personally nice. A mature Christian in our time is one whose cup overflows with niceness. Meanwhile, God’s word glorifies the young man who slings a stone into a giant forehead and then hacks off that head with the giant’s own sword. That had to be a bloody Christian sight. I know, they weren’t called Christians back then, but those Old Testament redeemed were saved the same way we are and they are our forefathers; family if you will. Remember, it was the prophet Samuel who, “hewed Agag to piecesbefore the Lord.”No prisoners of war for him.
Here we are 3000 years later, men who have an effeminized manner of behavior as our normal, normal. Is a fish aware of the water? What if the water is pink? What if our eyes are pink and the water is clear? How may we know we are viewing our environment rightly? Are we still men, or are we being transformed into girls? I am all for niceness, but we have left behind our manly strengths. Are there no enemies to enjoin? Is this our manly calling, to never offend, and never slight the warriors whose loyalty opposes the kingdom of Christ? I fear we have become a lukewarm posterity of the mighty men who fought our battles for us. I do not know if we can even be depended upon to defend the baggage.
From our youth we were taught to sit in chairs all day, be good, not pull hair, and talk in a shushing voice. Have you ever noticed how typical school is designed to effeminize boys? Girls love school, but boys want to climb trees. It is not that we aver learning but, boys learn differently. We have different hormones. This is because God calls us to different actions than He does our wives and daughters. Guys love boxing movies, but girls just tolerate them. Wham, wham, right cross, and down he goes. The guy wants to hit replay, but the girl is only watching because he is.
God calls men to be courageous. When Paul stood on Mars Hill, and went head-to-head with the Greek philosophers, he was pretty much alone in his opinions. The text tells us that only a few believed. Most of those guys thought he was nuts. Yet, there he was, stand alone or stand with his disciples, either way he had long before determined to preach Christ in whatever circumstance he found himself. When the crowd at Thessalonica was ready to tear apart Jason he unflinchingly kept the faith. Later on Paul mentions him at the end of his letter to the Romans. A Godly man is not deterred by conflict or danger for a right cause. We are made that way. The Lord strengthens us for the fight. It is not our wives that are called to bang shields with the wicked. It is the Christian man that should run toward the battle. Some are to protect and others are to be protected.
We have grown up in a time of milquetoast men in a soft-pewed church. We will not stand against anything. The airports disrobe our wives and daughters with their super scanners, and we object not a wit. We see nothing to defend. Whole cities with millions of inhabitants are effectively disarmed, but the church preaches nothing about it. No- knock invasions and warrantless searches are imposed, and Christian men offer hardly a contrary word. As liberty evaporates the pulpits remain silent. Our approval of women in the pulpit marks our shame as conquered men. We could think of nothing to say, so we turned over the talking to our daughters. Maybe they can save us. Maybe our underwear is pink. I believe I saw some frills. Female clergy came and gay clergy followed. Almost every major denomination accepts this.
Ministerial leaders tend to be nice men who get along with everybody. They teach the church to be a nice organization instead of a militant one. Today’s church rarely calls men to be courageous. This is one of the reasons men do not care about church. Women feel good when they go to church. Men feel squirmy. What is the point? Why do we care about hearing a girl tell us to be more like girls? If you brush hog on Sunday morning you can feel like you got something done. Current churches do not inspire men, whereas, conflict in a righteous cause inspires men like nothing else.
Our milquetoasty church culture derives from the doctrines we teach. Our thunder is gone because our theology is gone. We no longer view ourselves as men who have been sent out to build the mighty kingdom of Christ. Current fad theology teaches us that Jesus is bound to return any minute, so why worry about building His kingdom on this earth? If all our work is in vain then why do anything? The church may not be saying this in so many words, but the message is unmistakable if we truly believe we are at the end. People are logical enough to figure it out. We have never been taught sound doctrine concerning the extent of Christ’s kingdom. We think that God is only concerned about the saving of a few last souls before the scroll of history is rolled up. Little is ever said from the pulpit or in classrooms about Biblical faith controlling every area of thought, study, and living. We are not wholistic in our faith. We think that if we can save a few beleaguered souls our work is complete. Meanwhile, our God is claiming all for Himself. He has not given up a single area of existence to His enemies, and neither should we. Seek first the kingdom of God He implored us. Why then do we delay?
Militaristic regimes appeal to men because men are called to be strong. When we leave a leadership vacuum, stronger men, immoral men, eventually step in. We need to be strong men, who are strong in Christ, and go out to build a better world in the name of our Savior. We are called to re-enlighten the culture with the gentle message of God’s love under the righteousness of His law. Nothing less will do. Sturdy men do not allow the world’s systems to control them forever. Think with me guys. Pray with me. Wet-noodle man-girls do not have the strength to advance anything against God’s persistent enemies. A great first step for many of us would be to pull our kids from the godless public education system, and start teaching them ourselves. Why do we place them in schools where the unyielding daily message, is the irrelevance of God in all things? Are we so weak we will not do this small thing? How will the culture be saved when our children are lost?
The battle is upon us men. The surrounding culture seeks to tear down everything holy. But for us, for us and our families, men are needed who are courageous to lead. The hours of indecision are past. If courage fails now, we and our families will be squashed by the heaviness of the immorality around us. Indolence and fear are the signs of our corrupted state. Repent with me, and resolve to do whatever God gives opportunity, to rebuild a wiser culture. Shamelessly, seek first the kingdom of God. All else will be added unto us.
For Christian Culture,
Don Schanzenbach
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Suspender Man™, Don Schanzenbach, has long been an outspoken advocate of recapturing culture for Christ. He holds a MA in applied Biblical studies and a doctorate in applied theological studies in the field of political philosophy and government from New Geneva Seminary. He has been thinking, writing and speaking on Christian culture for two decades.
I love your post. Reminds me of the book, “Why men hate going to church.” It is a truly nauseating experience for many men. Unfortunately, some of the worst are the Reformed churches. Many of the pastors believe that the whole focus of the Christian life revolves around their preaching. Equipping the saints for ministry may result in other men actually showing signs of leadership. There is room for only one leader and any apparent rising leaders is soon asked to leave or given the lead in the choir. How manly!
Yes – This is a problem in the reformed churches. We work hard to keep the bad guys out of our pulpits but by those very actions we keep from training disciples, thus keeping a lot of good guys out as well. The clergy become a clique that can hardly be penetrated. I do not know the answer.